Benjamin Townsend—known professionally as Ivan Ooze—is an Australian rapper, singer, and songwriter from Melbourne, Victoria. He first entered the public eye in 2015 through a string of viral videos on Facebook, leveraging that momentum into a distinctive lane in the local hip-hop landscape. Ooze operates with a theatrical, off-kilter persona that masks a sharper lyrical focus, and his full-length releases reflect that balance. His debut, ‘93 KFC Rotisserie Gold (2016), introduced his anarchic style, while The Social Alien 2: Memoirs from the Milkyway (2017) pushed further into eccentric, genre-blurring territory. A more recent project, Isolation Of Mistaken Infamy, continues that trajectory with a matured sense of restraint and storytelling.
In 2020, Ooze expanded his creative outlet by forming the duo Rest For The Wicked alongside Tasker, a collaboration that also led to him signing with EMI Music Australia. That move placed him within a major-label structure while retaining the independent instincts that first brought him attention. Ooze remains a deliberately slippery figure, more interested in mood and subversion than straightforward narratives, and his evolution suggests an artist carefully curating his own mythology rather than chasing easy recognition.
Discography
- ‘93 KFC Rotisserie Gold (2016)
- The Social Alien 2: Memoirs from the Milkyway (2017)
- Isolation Of Mistaken Infamy (2026)
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